By Marta Hurtado
Agencia EFE
Montevideo, October 8, 2004

Andean Community Secretary General, Allan Wagner, from Peru, is of the opinion that South American Union must be understood as a development project, rather than a strictly commercial process, according to his statements to EFE.

This will make it possible for "isolated regions, which have been falling into deeper levels of poverty because of the centralized focus of our regions, to have an opportunity for development through the creation of regional economies with neighboring countries ", explained Wagner.

The South American Union referred to by Wagner, whose visit to Montevideo comes to an end today, is a project conceived five years ago, to integrate the countries presently forming part of Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) and the Andean Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela), plus Chile, to then add Mexico and Central America.

Yesterday, Thursday, Wagner, a former Foreign Affairs Minister of Peru, put forth his ideas on the project to Uruguay’s President Jorge Batlle and Foreign Affairs Minister Didier Opertti. He did likewise at the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI).

To achieve this goal, the CAN Secretary General deems it to be "of essence, to develop the infrastructures" of the continent, by building roads and improving the energy links and the development of telecommunications.

"We must create sectorial processes, common regulations to allow such roads to become areas where new production and trade will be developed. In the final analysis, it means going from macro to intermediate", he stated.

This is the reason why he believes in the creation of a South American Infrastructure Authority, "a form of trust to obtain loans from capital markets and carry out works on behalf of the various governments".

"This would allow for the repayment of such works to be cushioned, rather than immediately going into foreign debt", he stressed.

Wagner is convinced that South American integration would not only "strengthen" the process for the block’s international insertion, but also, "forces would be built to solve the 'other agenda', the agenda to deal with poverty, social exclusion and inequality".

In fact, one day prior to the celebration of the next South American Summit, in Cusco, Peru, on December 8 and 9, there will be an extraordinary meeting of Andean Community Presidents to go into greater depths in development and social cohesion matters, with respect to which, according to Wagner "a new Latin American consensus is emerging".

"It is an important process requiring much investment – he pointed out. To that effect, we need to have an international cooperation agenda to go together with this process".

"If we do not make progress on fundamental issues, such as education and training, we can build many roads, but... social capital is fundamental for progress to be made ", he added.

Concerning the upcoming South American Summit, the Secretary General would like for approval to be given to a "Framework Agreement to provide consistency to the block coordination process".

To achieve this, he is hoping to secure the assistance of already existing institutional organizations, such as the CAN, Mercosur and the Latin American Integration Association, comprised of the aforementioned countries, plus Mexico, Chile and Cuba.

"We must build on what is already there – he pointed out – searching for gradual agreement, harmonizing or creating the legal systems".

This was the message he transmitted today in the respective meetings with representatives of Mercosur and ALADI member countries, which represented the first visit made by an Andean Secretary General to these institutions.

Furthermore, there was also a suggestion made to Uruguay’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Didier Opertti, that, save for any last minute changes, he would be appointed ALADI Secretary General next October 18.

Certainly, Opertti has already thought of his new duty and he proposed permanent and periodical meetings to be held by secretaries general of the three institutions, reported Wagner.

Concerning the Free Trade Agreement being negotiated by Mercosur and the CAN, Wagner was convinced that it will go into effect "before year end", because the outstanding issues “can be easily resolved". EFE